Valkyrie

Weekend in Toronto was fantastic with perfect weather and a perfect host (thanks, IM and EM!). Will post pictures later.

Our Air Canada flight was surprisingly good. The in flight entertainment system (I think it's called Enroute) had a good collection of TV, Movies, and music available to the passengers. On the way there, I just wish I knew it was as simple as plugging my iPod headphones into the socket. I watched some CSI thing (without voices...) on and off till we landed.

On the way back, however, I chose to watch Valkyrie, the Tom Cruise move about the assassination of Adolf Hitler. It's sad that Tom Cruise as a person has been relegated to being the butt of jokes of talk show hosts and celebrity magazines. As a result, perhaps, Valkyrie has not received the same amount of respect that it deserves.

It is a good movie about the courage of men who stood up against tyranny. I don't know enough about German history to comment a lot, but my suspect is that there is always a lot of dissent under tyranny, and it is a matter of time before someone speaks up and acts. Valkyrie did a good job (but not great) in depicting these men, each with various degrees of conviction in attempting to overthrow Hitler. On one end there is Tom Cruise, one who is worried about his family but willing to give up on them; on the other is his commander, who would only act if Hitler's death is confirmed, thereby costing Operation Valkyrie valuable time in the coup. I would have wanted to see more on Cruise's struggle between country and family. Likewise for some of the characters in the movie. Recommended.

Note 1: it is surprising how little things have changed the course of history - the second villain who was prepared to commit suicide if one of the commanders did not fold under the fear of Hitler... the aforementioned general who was too scared to act swiftly... and that's just the psyche. The effects of the bomb being mitigated by open windows due to the weather... things like that.

Note 2: As I said before, you can rule by fear, but not forever. I wonder how long that will be for North Korea... and for a host of African nations.